21st Century Assam? Patient Carried Through Slush on Makeshift Cot

In an age when leaders boast of digital India, world-class infrastructure, and rural transformation, a scene from Sonaipar village in Assam's Sribhumi district offers a sobering reality check.

On a rain-soaked day, villagers struggled to carry a sick man, Sushil Dutta, on their shoulders on a makeshift cot to reach the nearest hospital. The reason? Sonaipar has no proper road. The only entry route to the village had turned into a swamp of sticky mud after heavy rains, leaving vehicles stranded and the sick with no choice but to be physically hauled out by fellow villagers.

The distressing visuals, captured on camera, have now laid bare the grim truth about development in the area — or the lack of it.

Sonaipar was once part of the South Karimganj constituency. But after constituency delimitation, it now falls under Patharkandi. The irony runs deep — South Karimganj’s former minister and current MLA, Siddique Ahmed, once claimed to have brought development to his constituency. If this is the state of connectivity for a village he previously represented, the “development” he talks about speaks for itself.

Now, with Sonaipar under Patharkandi, the responsibility lies with the present MLA and minister, Krishnendu Paul. The villagers are waiting to see whether he will act after witnessing this shocking scene first-hand — a patient in 21st century India being carried through the mud like in a bygone era.

For Sonaipar’s residents, the incident is not an isolated inconvenience. It is a recurring nightmare every monsoon — and a symbol of neglect that has spanned across political tenures. For the state’s political leadership, it is a question that demands more than speeches: When will promises turn into real, tangible roads?

Until then, Sonaipar remains trapped in a time where reaching a hospital means wading through mud, shoulders bearing the weight not just of patients, but of years of broken commitments.

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